Trump directs agency heads to eliminate two old regulations for every new one

Cost of all regulations in 2017 must be ‘zero’

Posted January 31, 2017

On January 30, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing federal agencies to “manage the costs associated with the governmental imposition of private expenditures required to comply with federal regulations.” The order calls for the elimination of two prior regulations for every new regulation issued. In addition, the cost of planned regulations must be prudently managed and controlled through budgeting.

The order also sets a regulatory cap for fiscal year 2017. The heads of all federal agencies must ensure that the total incremental cost of all new regulations finalized in 2017, including repealed regulations, “shall be no greater than zero, unless otherwise required by law” or recommended in writing by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The head of each agency is directed to provide the OMB with the agency’s best approximation of the total costs of savings associated with each new regulation or repealed regulation beginning with the agency’s Regulatory Plans and included with the Unified Regulatory Agenda. The new order does not require that the repeal of the two regulations be done simultaneously with the release of additional rules.

OMB will provide guidance on the budgeting and implementation of the requirements in the order.

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